Italy obtains invalidation of the Spanish restaurant brand “La Mafia sits at the table”

We are talking about a restaurant chain with this kind of shops (Photo) not from a small neighborhood shop in the middle of nowhere. It’s a real franchise: https://lamafia.es/en/

After the decision of the Court of the European Union to invalidate the trademark at community level in 2018, the name has now also been canceled in Spain

The restaurant chain had defended its position by claiming that the name comes from a recipe book named after it "The mafia sits at the table" e invoking the right to freedom of expression

the decision came from the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (Oepm), which in a decision dated February 26 established that the name of the chain is “against public order and good manners”.

The company also highlighted that the term is widely used in the cultural, literary and audiovisual fields. In 2018 the Court of the European Union considered that the use of this name led to a “trivialization” of organized crime, recalling that the mafia is associated with activities such as intimidation, violence, illegal trafficking of weapons and drugs, money laundering and corruption. Now the restaurant company has one month to appeal against the patent office’s decision, a possibility that will most likely be exercised.